San Antonio Activists to Speak Out at August 1st City Council Meeting -- Pressing for Ban of Cruel Carriage Horse Trade

San Antonio -- The San Antonio-based sanctuary, Primarily Primates and Friends of Animals, the animal advocacy organization, will rally and speak before the August 1st Council Meeting at City Hall to call for the release of the city’s 60 long-suffering carriage horses. Primarily Primates and Friends of Animals’ staff will be available for press statements at 8:30 am outside City Hall before the Council meeting begins at 9:00 am -- after which activists will comment on whether the horse-drawn carriage trade should be further regulated or banned.

“It’s hell on earth for horses forced to pull carriages in the sizzling heat of San Antonio’s traffic, Edita Birnkrant, NY Director of Friends of Animals says. “The City Council has a vote before them on August 1st to modify regulations for the carriage industry, but their daily torment continues. Horses are typically sold to “killer buyer auctions” for slaughter in Mexico when they’re no longer profitable. It’s time Mayor Castro and the City Council considers ending such a hazardous business,” Birnkrant adds.

“Primarily Primates sanctuary offers to place the horses at Texas sanctuaries, if Council members ban the horse-drawn carriage trade, -- protecting 60 horses from bloody slaughterhouses anywhere in North America,” says Stephen Tello, Executive Director of the 78-acre primate sanctuary in San Antonio.

In 2009, a horse stationed in front of the Alamo was frightened by a passing city bus, and the horse ran through downtown traffic. More such incidents are inevitable, the groups says.

An increasing number of modern cities have ended the tradition of animal-drawn vehicles due to public safety and animal welfare concerns. Letters from veterinarians in support of banning San Antonio’s carriage horse trade will be distributed at the Council Meeting and are available to the press.

Good grief, people--this is 2013, not 1813. Stop this cruel practice. Horses have NO BUSINESS on city streets. Animal welfare is the prime concern here. Protect these horses, because the idiots who are putting them on the streets have no interest in protecting them.

I fully support the release of these poor horses. The excruciating heat, the vehicle exhaust, the hooves on concrete is immensely adding to the suffering of the horses and the depletion of these animals' lives.

Mayor Castro and City Representatives please put an end to this torture!

Wise thinking. It is high time these horses should be saved from this cruelty. It was ok in the olden days, since there wasn't any other means of transportation. But the roads then where suitable for these uses. Now the things have changed altogether, these poor creatures must not be made suffering anymore.